Pajamas Media

74 Comments

1. whyaminotsurprised:

Good riddance! He was nothing but a weasel.

Apr 28, 2009 - 4:10 pm 2. Leo Pusateri:

The challenge is not to go democrat light. McCain was the most “centrist” candidate since Gerald Ford, and we all know how that went. What the challenge will be for the Republican Party is to appeal to that “wider audience” by educating them as to how bedrock conservative principles lifts all boats, and why it is in everyone’s best interest to back those principles. That was the gift that Ronald Reagan gave to the Republican Party; a gift that can be re-gifted if it is only brought out of the closet.

Apr 28, 2009 - 4:19 pm 3. Sebastian Shaw:

The Republicans betrayed their own ideals for smaller government & pro-capitalism while in power; they became Democrat-lite. As a result of being in power for 12 years, the Republicans’ so-called big tent appeal snatched in RINO’s.

However, many RINO’s came in with the Reagan’s landslide in 1980 such as Arlen Specter & John McCain. More & More RINO’s stay true to themselves & act more like Democrats out of bipartisanship. As a result, they throw away the very conservative principles which got them elected in the first place!

The Republicans invited their own loss of power & the Democrats exploited it. Now, it is up the Republican Party to rebuild itself back–with principles instead of opportunism…

Apr 28, 2009 - 4:23 pm 4. Marina:

NA-NA NANA-NA-NA HEY-HEY-HEY…

The more RINOs and manchurian democrats will live the GOP the sooner conservatives can have the party back. March through the institutions is over, libtards, the exodus has begun! Get out o’hear!

Apr 28, 2009 - 4:28 pm 5. gthog61:

How come nobody ever talks about democrats needing to allow a “diversity of views”? Leiberman had to run as an independent in his last election and he’s only non-liberal on one issue. The dims won’t tolerate pro-life speakers at their convention even when they aren’t talking about that subject. The hard left has a strangehold on the democrat party, but it is always conservatives who have to make concessions and play nice with people who disagree with them 80% of the time.

Apr 28, 2009 - 4:38 pm 6. Delia:

I’m so over this already.

Enjoy the Rino gone Dino, Dems!

Apr 28, 2009 - 4:39 pm 7. Marina:

Btw, why now? Why couldn’t he wait till 2010? A present for his boss to 100 days? But he were much more helpful as a “hidden agent”, he could tell all the secrets of the Reps at least for the next 1.5 years. Why this rush?

My theory is the dems are falling in the polls and are so desperate that they even sacrifice one of theirs to show the “masses”: look, we are not SO bad, even some republicans see it.

But the result can backfire: if I hate dems now, without any supermajority, wow, how will I hate them when ALL the troubles of the next 4 years will lead directly to them? A lot.

Anyway, goodbye, RINO! Leave your master without a scape goat!

Apr 28, 2009 - 4:46 pm 8. AThinkingPerson:

I’m not really worried about the GOP (or an Independent for that matter) winning the next election. I know it will happen. It’s basically a given. The only thing I AM worried about is how the coming Carter II implosion will personally affect my family, friends and community. Surely I’m not the only one noticing the early tell-tale signs of the impending doom on the horizon? Honestly, how many more jobs can be lost, how many more banks can fail, how soon until a national tragedy happens because the CIA are handcuffed until the sheeple awaken? I bide my time, content in the knowledge that as long as the GOP doesn’t begin feeding on itself, better days are coming.

Apr 28, 2009 - 4:58 pm 9. E Gads:

Specturd is the ultimate rino turncoat! The greedy basturd is more interested in another term and paycheck than he is in the welfare of America.
Doesn’t he know he is an elderly 79 year old man??? He should have done the honorable thing and retire instead of jumping ship and selling out his party and supporters. The Dems will have supreme power now and use it to cripple America piece by piece. What a rat!!!

Apr 28, 2009 - 5:05 pm 10. michael Reynolds:

This is high comedy.

Losing a Senate seat is good news! Yay! I think you should follow this up by kicking Snowe and Collins out. I mean, if 40 seats is great, wouldn’t 38 be even better? And why stop at the Senate?

I don’t think Charlie Crist is really a true Sean Hannity fan, do you? He’s gotta go. Because once you’ve reduced the national GOP to irrelevance and impotence it’s time to castrate the state parties as well.

Then, when you’ve chased off every last member of the party who isn’t loyal to Rush Limbaugh you can begin your climb back to victory on the backs of your core constituencies: old, straight white people, rustics and people who think Adam named the dinosaurs. It’s genius!

In fact, I have a very simple, 2 point plan:

1) Invent a time machine.
2) Make it the 1950’s again.

Apr 28, 2009 - 5:28 pm 11. MiamaMan:

I really don’t believe that G. W. Bush was for big government. After Clinton’s second term, and for the first time in years, there was a budget surplus, people were discussing what to do with this “peace dividend”, whether to use it for social security, etc.

Then 9/11 came and changed everything. The war in Afghanistan, creation of Department of Homeland security. Did the US overreact? Probably so.

The war in Iraq, a mistake because actually Saddam’s Iraq worked to contain the worst enemy: Iran.

You have to give it to Al Qaeda, not only they disrupted our economy on 9/11, but also, with a single terror act in Spain, just a week before elections there, removed one of the best allies of the US at the time: Aznar. His party was ahead in all polls, but the bomb made possible for socialist, anti-us Zapatero, to win the elction

Apr 28, 2009 - 5:42 pm 12. Derek:

Opportunity to what? Losing while running Rick Santorum wasn’t enough? You want to double down on that with Toomey?

Apr 28, 2009 - 5:55 pm 13. PunditKix:

Pajamas Media » Specter’s Exit an Opportunity for the GOP…

Trackback from PunditKix.com…

Apr 28, 2009 - 6:29 pm 14. kahner:

haha. the entire republican party is on the path to collapse and will be completely irrelevant after the next election cycle. Its hilarious watching you all try to spin this as good for the party and ignore the obvious fact that the vast majority of the nation has turned away from the idiocy that is modern republicanism. the only sad thing is we do need at least one legitimate opposition party for a strong democracy. however we’re better off with no real opposition than with the anti-science, anti-choice, pro-torture, racist republicans. Check party affiliation trends and you’ll see the sane portion of the country agrees with me. I’ll enjoy watching your demise as you continue to blather about socialism and freedom fries. have fun, suckers.

Apr 28, 2009 - 6:31 pm 15. Jeff:

Miami, Bush expanded the role of government. He expanded lots of government programs for health education and welfare.

He imposed tariffs on steel early in his first term, he allowed the big government republicans to pork barrel spend like crazy in congress.

Bush was not our worst President in history. He wasn’t even in the top 10 worst, but he wasn’t among the 10 best either because he (and his fellow Republicans) blew a golden opportunity to codify and make permanent the Reagan revolution, and Gingrich revolution of 1994.

they adhere to conservative fiscal values, and go easier on the social agenda they still control congress today with a far different outcome in the Presidency.

Apr 28, 2009 - 6:32 pm 16. Jones:

>A chance for the party to develop broadly conservative themes that would lead to victory.

Not bloody likely. The electorate has successfully been dumbed down. They chose Obama- and one party rule- on the basis of clever sound bites and biased cheerleading masquerading as news reporting.

We have an idiotocracy now. The GOP has no chance.

God help us all.

Apr 28, 2009 - 6:33 pm 17. AThinkingPerson:

michael Reynolds: Just a word of caution to you, my overzealous friend. Gloat now while you still can. I surely did when Obama beat Hillary in the primary. I just knew the country would be smart enough to see through a lame-duck candidate. No record to speak of, jail-bait friends, no college record, no birth certificate. The American people are smarter than that right? Surely we were more enlightened than to vote in a President solely on his skin color right? Wrong. Just when you feel invincible, fate comes along to knock you off your high horse. The blind will one day see and then my friend, you will indeed feel silly. Well, either silly or stupid as hell for selling future generations safety and security down the river.

Apr 28, 2009 - 6:34 pm 18. steveg:

The GOP screwed up, and now were stuck with a radical left-wing agenda for the foreseeable future.

Apr 28, 2009 - 6:34 pm 19. jaybob:

I think its great that RINO which parties and showed his true colors. He always let us Republicans down when it really accounted anyway. Good riddance to bad rubbish!!!

Apr 28, 2009 - 6:39 pm 20. jaybob:

I think its great that RINO switched parties and showed his true colors. He always let us Republicans down when it really accounted anyway. Good riddance to bad rubbish!!!

Apr 28, 2009 - 6:41 pm 21. aposematic in VA:

Jees, another irrational post to push Republicans to the left. The problem Republicans have is they are already too far to the left.

Hillary Clinton, the darling love child of the Dems before Obama came on the scene wasn’t far enough left to please the Dems progressive base. Obama fit right in to the Dem progressive base. For this reason, Hillary couldn’t defeat Obama in the primaries.

The point is Obama had the base and Hillary didn’t.

The middle left of the Republicans put forth a middle left candidate in McCain–a true, live American war hero with liberal bills to his credit and he got slaughtered by Obama. McCain didn’t have his base and most prominent Republican politicians today have lost the base.

The only way Republicans can regain their political strength is to stop trying to move to the left and go back to their base. If the republicans don’t stop trying to be lefties, the party will continue to loose.

Republicans have not been loosing because they are not left enough. Republicans are loosing because they are not right enough.

Apr 28, 2009 - 7:00 pm 22. Get Smart:

A party must stand for core principles. If it doesn’t, it
ceases to exist. The Democrats core principles are ever-expanding government and social destablization of the family. Funny that they and their agenda are never labeled extremist or far left.

The alliance between fiscal and social conservatives has served the Republican Party well for 30 of the last 35 years. No reason the formula can’t be resurrected.

It is only when Republicans push lackluster, visionless candidates (Ford, Dole, NcCain) that they lose at the state and congressional level as well–
for the longest time, Tedisco couldn’t articulate a position on the stimulus
bill! That’s why he lost.

Big C conservatives can certainly win (in any state and most congressional districts) if they are lively and appealing (unlike the aforementioned presidential candidates). Does anyone think Obama won because of his brilliant political ideas?

He lied about his ideology and hid his extremist ideas from the public
by vaguely referring to “hope” and “change.”

Apr 28, 2009 - 7:04 pm 23. PAR:

If republicans are no better than Democrats why does it matter? We need a party that believes in something. That is why Reagan was able to capture people’s imagination. People thought Obama was a man of principle and he too caught their imagination. The Republicans blew it when they demonstrated they were no better than the Democrats. Obama is busy demonstrating that he is nothing but a typical Chicago machine political hack. Without the Republicans to blame for every failure the democrats will turn on each other and the people will quickly look for a new solution. If the Republicans can articulate a clear message the middle class, over taxed, over regulated, and under employed will once again return to the Republican party.

Look at what is going on in England they are further along and more frustrated than we are. They have been dealing with stupid liberal policies for years. People are leaving the country due to high taxes. They are fed up with the liberals.

Republicans need to return to their roots and let the people come to them rather than trying to be everything to everyone.

Apr 28, 2009 - 7:04 pm 24. fred:

Arlen Specter is an unprincipled opportunist. It’s sad that Pennsylvania Republicans could not field someone better than him during the past thirty years. He is only returning to where he was most comfortable: his roots in the Democratic Party. I say good riddance.

There are social-cultural issues I am a bit conservative on, but I think we do ourselves a disservice by excluding fiscal conservatives and free market people if they don’t agree with us on those social issues – or do not want to be up front about what they think on those issues. The economy and national security are critical issues. On the social and cultural issues… because we have lost the educational institutions we are not going to see profound changes on that front for a very long time. First, we have to secure the nation and its economy, because we are going to be in very bad shape when Obonga leaves office in 2013.

Apr 28, 2009 - 7:16 pm 25. Carmen:

Jennifer,
This is a great article! Enjoyed it very much. You should also check out “Win At All Costs” at http://www.noleftturnz.com. It is a little blurb posted as the “Thought of the Day”. I think you will enjoy it.
Carmen

Apr 28, 2009 - 7:50 pm 26. Bilgeman:

Ms. Rubin:
“Even if Specter had stayed within the GOP, could an 79-year old bloviating figure like Specter have won under any circumstances? Highly doubtful.”

Which beggars the question of what exactly the Democrats have to gain by letting “Single Bullet Theory” hang around and sniff their bottoms for?
It’s not like they need HIS vote, is it?

Does Specter think he can win in PA as a Democrat, where he couldn’t win as Republican? (Although given the returns from Murtha’s district of “racists & rednecks”, I s’pose ANYTHING is possible).

Or is it the Alleged Hawaiian’s release of previously classified memos that twisted “Single Bullet Theory’s” tail?

Arlen, old boy, you’d better be thinking pretty hard about that retirement golf course condo in Boca Raton…

Apr 28, 2009 - 7:53 pm 27. Bob:

Dear Senator Spector: Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out of the party.”

Apr 28, 2009 - 7:54 pm 28. backatcha:

#10 michael reynolds – nicely done

#17 wthinkperson – Just when you feel invincible, fate comes along to knock you off your high horse. The blind will one day see and then my friend, you will indeed feel silly.

The last two elections prove your theory.

Apr 28, 2009 - 8:45 pm 29. backatcha:

Still not getting the irony of this “good news” for the GOP? I think this may be why . . .

The Irony of Satire

Political Ideology and the Motivation to See What You Want to See in The Colbert Report

Heather L. LaMarre
Kristen D. Landreville
Michael A. Beam
The Ohio State University

This study investigated biased message processing of political satire in The Colbert Report and the influence of political ideology on perceptions of Stephen Colbert. Results indicate that political ideology influences biased processing of ambiguous political messages and source in late-night comedy. Using data from an experiment (N = 332), we found that individual-level political ideology significantly predicted perceptions of Colbert’s political ideology. Additionally, there was no significant difference between the groups in thinking Colbert was funny, but conservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said while liberals were more likely to report that Colbert used satire and was not serious when offering political statements. Conservatism also significantly predicted perceptions that Colbert disliked liberalism. Finally, a post hoc analysis revealed that perceptions of Colbert’s political opinions fully mediated the relationship between political ideology and individual-level opinion.

in other words . . . duh! You guys might want to lower your sites a bit. Forget about national politics and first work through the intricacies of cable comedy shows.

Apr 28, 2009 - 8:59 pm 30. The Shadow:

Poor thinkingperson has not had an original thought. I definitely think the Republicans should kick out all moderates. It is a sure way of insuring they will be a minority party for a long long time. Bilgeman is showing his ignorance of Pennsylvanian politics. Spector is no prize, but we will take him as the 60th vote in the Senate

Apr 28, 2009 - 9:01 pm 31. DaveinPhoenix:

10. michael Reynolds:

Us terrible “rustic” types are the ones who won two world wars, landed men on the moon, created the greatest economy the world has ever seen, fed the world, and created the interstate highway system. We gave you the very freedoms which you now use to against us. You don’t like “rustic” ? Tough. You think the ’50’s were a bad time in America ? Tough. You aren’t old enough to judge that. It’s popular to badmouth the old America by vermin like you. When I was growing up, we only needed one income to support a whole family, send the kids to college, live a comfortable life, and still had money leftover for saving for retirement.

Your new America is a crime ridden drug infested country that can’t even control it’s borders. And it’s an obvious disgrace. I may be old, but you are an idiot. Grow up.

Apr 28, 2009 - 9:04 pm 32. Angry White Dude:

Specter is the first to show the results of the Tea Party movement! We are ridding Republicans of RINOs. McPain is next! A whole bunch after him!

Get active conservatives! Start at the local level nominating conservatives. Stay on Republicans in office! Hold them accountable! Make the pathetic excuses we have in Washington FEAR THE TEA PARTY!

Angry White Dude

Apr 28, 2009 - 9:15 pm 33. donttreadonme:

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Jim DeMint has left the Republican Party…what’s that? Oh, Arlen Specter. Hmmm, I thought he already was a Democrat. I learn something new everyday.
Now, let’s CLOSE the early primaries to Republicans only and see the renewal really begin.

Apr 28, 2009 - 9:50 pm 34. mshatto:

Arlen Specter will be treated the way all traitors are, like a piriah. This is not over The next to go will be the women from Maine and then McCain and Graham. They are all comfortable with socialist ideology. The GOP will not recover from this for eight years but it’s needed.

Apr 28, 2009 - 9:54 pm 35. donttreadonme:

10. reynolds,
Psst..Snowe and Collins are liberals. They already vote with Democrats 99.999% of the time. Now, shouldn’t you be studying for your Cuban Revolutionary Theory exam? By the way, this just in..final score..
CIA 1 Che G. 0

Apr 28, 2009 - 9:56 pm 36. lee:

Unless the GOP make an honest attempt to connect with minority voters, they’ll never recover. It’s the simple truth. Republicans shy away from this reality, because they mistakenly believe they have to succumb to some “Acorn” or radical immigration groups to appeal to minorities. But you don’t have to sell out core conservative principles to attract their attention.

I feel there’s untapped voting base among older immigrants (especially Asians) who are reliably religious or conservatives but tend to stay in their own little cultural island. Most of them can’t speak English, and they rely on news source in their own language to catch up on American affairs. (Asian newspapers leech off information from liberal media) There was a slight uptick in voting activity among this group in CA as they voted for prop 8, though I suspect some of them voted for Obama.

Point here is – DO SOMETHING to attract minority voters. I’m actually confident the GOP will make some gain among whites, but that’s a moot point if 70-80% of minorites vote democrats. Send fliers or speakers to churches or minority establishments to communicate the GOP message. Help groom young minority candidates who can serve as intermediaries between his constituents and the GOP.

That

Apr 28, 2009 - 10:13 pm 37. donttreadonme:

14. kahner,
I am putting together a group to form a true opposition party in this country and your post inspired me to ask if you would serve as our leader? The platform is based on the following tenets:
1. Jobs may only be created IF the job creator has an equal or less amount of wealth than the job seeker.
2. No inventions will be issued patents unless the invention was the result of a group collaboration; and only if the collaboration was monitored by someone with an education or sociology degree.
3. ONLY mixed-race folks can have positions of leadership in our party – that is the only way to ensure a post-racial code of ethics. (you being the exception of course).
4. Anyone possessing the following will be declared legally insane:
A Don’t Tread On Me Flag; A copy of “Liberty and Tyranny”; a pocket Constitution; a job; a technical or trade school degree; a marriage; a firearm; a bible; a combustion engine; or children.
You in, Kahner?

Apr 28, 2009 - 10:15 pm 38. BPT (Australia):

Now we just have to wait for Miss McCain to come out of the political closet, and admit that she is a Democrat.

Apr 28, 2009 - 11:43 pm 39. G Alston:

#31 — We gave you the very freedoms which you now use to against us.

Check your meds, pal. You’re channeling a Jack Nicholson character.

#36 — I feel there’s untapped voting base among older immigrants (especially Asians) who are reliably religious or conservatives but tend to stay in their own little cultural island.

The problem is that the left has been adept at painting the republicans as anti-minority because of immigration issues. The recent tea party stuff (much lauded here) did little to alleviate this; in fact, the media focusing on “secure the borders” signs etc put a big exclamation mark on it. The one tea party message that succeeded in getting out was that republicans are anti-immigrant.

Unless and until somebody focuses these things such that protests are about taxes or fiscal issues only, this will not help unpaint that image. It pretty much begs the question of whether or not any of the organisers were capable of thinking this stuff through (the answer? no.)

What will save the party, and by that I mean the ONLY thing, is for the party to cease and desist social issue stuff and concentrate on that which *all* voters can identify with.

Which leads me to –

#5 — The dims won’t tolerate pro-life speakers at their convention even when they aren’t talking about that subject.

That’s because the management of the left isn’t stupid enough to let people natter about social stuff. You can’t win on social issues; most of these are about a 50/50 split and do nothing more than needlessly divide people. My only question is why this is so hard for you to grasp. (Unlike most Pajama posters, at least you’re smart enough to ask the question, so take heart. There is hope for you.) It seems that Ms. Rubin has finally gotten the point. If only the GOP leadership will listen, there’s a chance the GOP can win.

Apr 29, 2009 - 12:42 am 40. AThinkingPerson:

The Shadow: You mean voting in a Liberal empty-suit President and taking the country down the path to socialism is one of your genius “original thoughts”. Somehow the GOP is to remain moderate while the Democrats can go loonie-Left? Hmm…. That’s “original” there Shadow.

If we don’t believe you’re a genius all we have to do is ask you right?

Apr 29, 2009 - 5:30 am 41. Joe Bison:

Windsocks turn with the wind. When the wind
changes or in Specterese the Republicans become
a “big tent” party again types like him will be
back.

Apr 29, 2009 - 6:47 am 42. michael Reynolds:

So, summarizing the responses here:

Grrrrrr! Rowf! Rowf! Socialist! Aaaarrggh! Booga booga booga! Commies!

I can’t believe with so many intelligent, well-spoken supporters the GOP is down to only 21%.

Apr 29, 2009 - 6:48 am 43. The Shadow:

Michael Reynolds – The trend line is so down hill that they will be under 20% soon. Math and statistics were never their strong points. They do not understand that in order to govern you have to compromise to win a majority of the voters.

Apr 29, 2009 - 6:57 am 44. kahner:

donttreadonme
You’re keeping me laughing. Was that nonsense ramble supposed to be some type of biting sarcasm? Really? You’re hitting me where it hurts with the “patent law” comment. Legally insane if you have a bible, children or a job? WTF are you even trying to say? I think you need to go watch some more glenn beck to calm your mind.

Also, and more to the point, way to not respond to any of the substance of my original comment about your party’s decline. I guess its easier to babble nonsense than acknowledge the truth, or even worse, try to do something about it. Enjoy the path to 30 seats in the senate.

Apr 29, 2009 - 7:02 am 45. Phoenix48:

29. backatcha: Political Ideology and the Motivation to See What You Want to See in The Colbert Report…

You might want to AIM HIGHER with the time and money spent on a college education – whats more pathetic – looking for sociological ‘trends’ sampling a comedy show and selling it as academic research – or trolling a conservative blog site ‘advising’ participants with such fatuous blather.

Ditto M.Reynolds & Kahner – take your government cheese and juice boxes ‘earned’ to troll along w/Backatcha and go back to watching re-runs of that 70’s show on cable – @ your monitored psych half-way house. Expecting you folks to actually read Ms. Rubins post and comment accordingly is obviously beyond the troll mis-info job discription & pay grade.

I believe Jenifer is absolutely spot on that Spectors defection presents an opportunity – since the Dem’s are now gloating that they have a veto-proof majority in the Senate once Franken gets instated – which he most certainly will.

People forget that Jeffers similar defection pre 9/11 had a dramatic effect on Bush in 2000 – but was a major reason why he bucked the trend in the first congressional elections and gained seats in 2002. Why? Because of what the Dashell led Dems did once in a Senate Majority.

39. G Alston: – very well said – other than taking an unfair swipe @ Daveinphoenix. The GOP respects Dave for all the right reasons – namely AARP folk are the most reliable conservative voters because life is instructive and retiree implies responsible living + understanding compound interest = excellent citizen and smart shopper! Retired arizonians spread the wealth the old fashioned way – filling shopping malls and spoiling the grandkids.

Which leads me to my final point for G Alston & others; Too many young conservatives are wary or resentful towards todays retirees – as the new generation gap is all about economics rather than ideology like in the 60’s & 70’s.

Likewise – as the recent Megahn McCain post illustrates – far too much handwringing concentrates over ‘catching up’ w/Dem’s when it comes to converting the young to conservatism.

Reagan most powerful argument in ‘80 was simple – and didn’t require a massive media campaign. All that heavy lifting was done for him – by Carter and havoc caused by the post-Watergate Dems who stormed congress once Nixon resigned.

‘Are you better off today…’ We shall see in 2010 just how Obama & one party rule sets with the American public at the highest levels of office. I believe we will get divided government because Dems are addicted to what they are doing and have been doing since FDR & his New Dealer Dino’s roamed the earth.

3. Sebastian Shaw: – excellent summerization – the GOP has diagnosed what went wrong from ‘04 onward – when that pigmy Texan Delay steered the party off into crony crapilism run amuck on K Street. The opposition is alive and well.

Apr 29, 2009 - 7:13 am 46. Fred Beloit:

Shadow writes: “I definitely think the Republicans should kick out all moderates. It is a sure way of insuring they will be a minority party for a long long time.”

You mean like what the Koskids tried but failed to do with Lieberman?

Apr 29, 2009 - 7:43 am 47. Will:

Let’s clean house.We have a good start at getting rid of all the liberal traitors.

Apr 29, 2009 - 7:58 am 48. bobbcat:

10. Michael Reynolds. I think you get the gist. Until such time the Republican Party decides to soften its stance on some of the really pertinent, hot-button social issues and stops eliminating viable candidates who don’t pass a certain brand of litmus test, it can plan on staying out there in the wilderness while everyone else is busily moving on without their participation in the arena of policies and ideas. It’s their choice.

Apr 29, 2009 - 8:05 am 49. backatcha:

Mister Hannniiitttyyy? We’re ready for you. Charity is in your hands. (Don’t worry about your Freedom Concerts being given a “D’ rating re: the money taken in versus money actually reaching the needy. We won’t hold that against you. We’ll just hold this towel against your face while we pour water down your throat and nose. No problema. Paging Sean Hannity. We’re here for you, standing by to help you keep your promise.

Apr 29, 2009 - 8:23 am 50. backatcha:

45. Phoenix48:

The truth hurts. Nobody likes to be proved a stumbling paragon of ignorant right wing obeisance. But take heart, with every liberal traitor you expel from the Republican party you get closer to absolute zero on the scale of political relevance. Red rover red rover, send Olympia on over. And Susan. Who else you got? We’ll take em all. Did you sleep through 2008? Did you miss the fundamental rejection of radical conservatism by the American people? Or do you still think that “You betcha” and “We’re all mavericky” is gonna win the day going forward? You abdicated the moderate and independent vote and did everything you could to turn out the base. And they all showed up, some of them holding their nose, and left with their prehensile tails between their legs. Meanwhile, the ranks of active liberal and independent voters continues to grow. With every passing day Republicans and conservatives alienate more American voters – women, blacks, Hispanics, gays, Jews, and liberals. Instead you choose to continue the Bubba fantasy that the South will rise again to defeat those nasty Democrats. Well, I can only hope you stay with that strategy. And I’m confident you will. Throw more “angry white people” parties. Play the victim. Predict with grand statements of certainty the demise of our Republic. (If you can’t handle Meghan McCain, how you gonna handle Osama bin Laden?) Take credit for the things we did as a nation, not as an ideology. We see it all and we know it for what it is – ignorant right wing obeisance.

Apr 29, 2009 - 8:41 am 51. G Alston:

#48 — Until such time the Republican Party decides to soften its stance on some of the really pertinent, hot-button social issues and stops eliminating viable candidates who don’t pass a certain brand of litmus test, it can plan on staying out there in the wilderness while everyone else is busily moving on without their participation in the arena of policies and ideas.

It’s much worse than that. The intelligensia of the party are casting their social litmus tests as “freedom” issues when in fact they are statist. See this:

http://www.baen.com/chapters/axes.htm

As you can see from the graph social conservatives and liberals are merely competing for who controls the apparatus of the state. The ideology is schizoid; fiscal conservatism is anti-statist whereas social conservatism is the epitome of state control.

No wonder “the message” doesn’t resonate and no wonder why the application of litmus tests keep going south. Worse, social issues are divisive, not inclusive. Add divisiveness and schizophrenia and out pops Rush Limbaugh.

Overall you/we are correct: the republican party isn’t going anywhere until they drop the social issues.

On the other hand if Obama et al fails then the people will vote them out and the only alternative is republicans; this is problematic in that GOP idealogues will misinterpret repudiation of Obama as the voters buying their product. The idealogues already misdiagnosed the 2008 election (they claim it was the RINO’s that dunnit), so there’s little hope of them getting a clue in the near future.

Apr 29, 2009 - 8:45 am 52. kahner:

Phoenix48:
take your government cheese and juice boxes ‘earned’ to troll along w/Backatcha and go back to watching re-runs of that 70’s show on cable – @ your monitored psych half-way house.
What?!? Please,please try to make some sense. juice boxes and that 70’s show? Come on people, if you want to insult me (which I guess is what that was supposed to do), it only works if the insult means something. I guess you’re implying that i’m a hippie and on welfare maybe. Um, burn? Republicans are so out of touch with modern america that even your insults are ridiculous and dated. You’re a party of the past, fading quickly to nothing. But go ahead and try to use this “opportunity” of a senior republican defecting and denouncing the party to revitalize. Sounds like a solid plan.

Apr 29, 2009 - 8:48 am 53. bobbcat:

51. G Alston. Very interesting piece. It really is too bad the Libertarian Party has never been able to eke out any sort of a niche (the money machine catering only to the major two might have something to do with that). AFA the social issues are concerned though, seems to me that the Pub leadership would be well served to study human nature just a bit. Utilizing the approach of inclusiveness does not necessarily mean that one is shirking responsibility towards one’s moral principles. It really is too bad that this simple concept is elusive to so many.

Apr 29, 2009 - 9:27 am 54. Jettboy:

I would much rather be out in the cold and powerless with my ideological purity than having power that does not represent my politics. Of course, I would rather have both power and ideology together, but I’ll be true to myself (isn’t that what liberals are always saying we should be?) over popularity. As an anti-big government believer I am not too worried that Republicans are going to be a minority. There are states in the U.S. that are highly Conservative and Republican and I live in one of them. Unless there is a huge influx of people from other states, its not going to change. Republicanism is going to survive and grow as a regional and not national party. That is going to hamper power and popularity for the moment, but will force it to be honest to its core principles. I consider myself “Conservative” before I do “Republican.” I think the liberals overstate their size anyway. They had “ultimate power” in the past and that quickly changed. No reason to believe that can’t change again.

How soon the liberals forget that it was against “The Man” that they stood for less than a generation ago. Right now, as they sometimes have been before, they ARE the Man. Their current superiority complex, much like the Republicans in the beginning of 2000s, is their weakness. It is going to take some time, but I think that another Conservative wave is coming and this time no one will see it coming. I am one of the few Republicans who DON’T think it will be in 2010, but perhaps in 2012 if all freedoms haven’t been destroyed by the left.

Apr 29, 2009 - 10:20 am 55. Northern Light:

If we could stop insulting various posters we could get back to the topic at hand, namely insulting Arlen Specter.

I am reminded of Benedict Arnold (see, I am insulting Arlen). You all know Arnold as the American Revolutionary War general who sold out America, but did you know what happened to him after the Revolution?

It seems that Arnold left the USA and settled in Nova Scotia with a group of United Empire Loyalists (Americans who backed the British). Although the UELs backed Britain, they had no love of Arnold who was shunned because nobody likes a traitor, not even the people backing the side he has aided.

Specter can read polls at least as well as I can. It’s pretty obvious that he had a better chance of being relected than he did at winning a Republican primary. It makes perfect sense that Specter would quit the GOP before the party fired him.

But in spite of what many people seem to be saying here, Specter is no darling of the left. I first heard of him during the Clarence Thomas hearings and he was not making liberal hearts go pit-a-pat then. It’s true that he has voted with the Democrats from time to time, but his voting record is not one that would make him a Democrat.

Right now there seems to be a split among Pennsylvania Democrats. Do they support Specter because he’s the incumbant, or do they support someone who is an actual liberal rather than a somewhat Rinoish type person (what is the Democratic version of RINO? Is it DINO? PUMA? Blue Dog? I really don’t know)?

I wonder about Republican supporters being so happy to lose a senate seat. The Democrats feel the seat is so important that they are willing to take the ass that’s in it. But does that mean that losing a seat is considered a GOP victory? Is Tedisco a win? Will Norm Coleman be seen as a win as soon as he runs out of courts to challenge his second place finish? If the GOP loses seats in both houses in 2010 will that be a victory too? If 200,000 people in Pennsylvania have left the Republicans is that some sort of victory? Too many celebrations like this will make the Republicans the new Whig Party.

Since the news that Specter bolted the party I have heard conservatives hope that other RINOs leave too. Does that mean they don’t think Republicans should want votes from voters who might be RINOs? When you are a minority party you might wonder if making the party smaller is a good idea.

Apr 29, 2009 - 10:23 am 56. Sapwolf:

Specter becoming a Dem is actually good for the GOP long-term because it gives the GOP a chance to reorganize their platform over the next year and restructure the big-tent conservatism that gave them elections in the past as Obama continues the hard turn left with the Dems in Congress.

Specter was a liberal anyway who votes with the Dems anyway. He already was factored into much of the planning for whether a Senate vote could be filibuster proof.

This is nothing but a leftist being repackaged on the surface with the ‘D’ attached to his name.

In any retrenchment, you cut off the fat and get to the muscle which is conservatism for the GOP over many issues and allow for participation of various types of conservatives.

This looks like a loss, but in fact is proper retrenchment/reorg. by shedding the deadwood.

Good move for the GOP. I’d consider asking Snowe and Collins to consider switching too since they are Dems in Rep. clothing anyway.

Let’s be patient and rebuild a conservative vision along the lines of Reagan where strong but prudent national security / fiscal conservatism / social conservatism / government reform / limited government / energy independence. A platform like this can be the big-tent home to many Americans.

Apr 29, 2009 - 10:34 am 57. Edward A:

Do I understand this correctly, if there will be a additional “Opportunities for the GOP” the Republican party will become irrelevant as a national party?

Apr 29, 2009 - 11:04 am 58. G Alston:

#55 — If we could stop insulting various posters we could get back to the topic at hand, namely insulting Arlen Specter.

Specter recognised that the good people of PA have moved to the left and has changed his politics to reflect this.

As I see it the only real problem here is that the representatives are there to represent the people and the senators are to represent the interests of the state. This would make more sense — and be quite proper! — if he were a House member. Obviously modern day politicians (and pundits!) seem to have lost something in translation from the founders day.

Maybe the better question to ask is how the state of PA is better served via a democrat senator vs a GOP senator and then direct the insults accordingly. Methinks constitutional insulting is beyond the capability of Pajama readers.

Apr 29, 2009 - 11:18 am 59. G Alston:

#54 — I think the liberals overstate their size anyway.

Size *does* matter, despite what you’ve been told to make you feel better.

Certainly the left now owns large swaths of population centers and this doesn’t look like this will change soon. The northeast is now largely devoid of republicans in power. They aren’t overstating anything.

Apr 29, 2009 - 11:24 am 60. M. Simon:

To all my GOP friends: how is the culture war working out for you?

Apr 29, 2009 - 11:50 am 61. M. Simon:

Let’s be patient and rebuild a conservative vision along the lines of Reagan where strong but prudent national security / fiscal conservatism / social conservatism / government reform / limited government / energy independence. A platform like this can be the big-tent home to many Americans.

There is one element in the above list that shrinks the tent. Can you find it?

Apr 29, 2009 - 11:54 am 62. Rubicon:

Republicans lost Specter. So what? The vote could never be counted on anyway. So, what have they really lost? An “R” behind the name on the list. W/o his vote it means nothing anyway.
Specter, Snowe, & Collins gave away the golden opportunity for Obama to have really lived up to ‘bi-partisanship.’ The fact is, Pelosi & Reid needed to do no compromising, except the special deals these three wanted with no regard for anything or anyone else.
If they had stuck w/ their counterparts, real compromise & real beneficial gains could have been built into a real plan to recover faster, generate as many or more jobs, and to have done so w/o spending trillions that will surely bring about a level of inflation Americans have never seen before. This inflation is going to hurt…. severely hurt! Then people may realize what some were trying to tell them. Doing something was called for. Doing it by spending was NOT the solution since the ultimate price may take us dangerously close to actual national bankruptcy. That is not a joke but a real possibility.
Even the Chinese have hinted they fear our currency is becoming valueless! Now that is a real concern, since they have done almost all of the lending to us! Maybe we can give them Alaska & Hawaii in exchange for some of the debt?
Add a multitude of policies that reflect plans to make some speech less than free, restrictions on electronic communications, energy policies that by themselves could cost average Americans up to $4,000. a year MORE to heat cool, & light their homes, plus shutdowns of industries with no replacement jobs available, & what have we really accomplished other than fund ACORN for decades to come? The “green industry” all talk about will make people like Al Gore rich, but it cannot generate enough jobs to replace those we will lose as major industries are shut down. Maybe they will come up with a plan to just kill off a few million people to level the field, huh???
Oh, thats right, its called National Health Care! The socialist plan even those that have it hate! What a great idea!

Apr 29, 2009 - 12:25 pm 63. The Historian:

SPECTER IS THE POSTER BOY FOR POLITICS TODAY
Time to put an end to career politicians.

http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/04/arlen-specter-perfect-case-in-point.html

Apr 29, 2009 - 12:32 pm 64. Specter, Principles, And Trust (Rather, the Lack of Them) | The Conservative Reader:

[...] last few years, and particularly the last couple of years, is the Democrat party. As Jennifer Rubin points up yesterday,

Apr 29, 2009 - 1:56 pm 65. G Alston:

#61 — There is one element in the above list that shrinks the tent. Can you find it?

Not only that, smaller government and energy independence may well be mutually exclusive concepts. e.g. if Bussard’s project works, who’s going to fund the builing of a few hundred of these?

Apr 29, 2009 - 2:17 pm 66. A Clay:

This is a tactical move that doensn’t really have an impact on anyone but Arlen Specter. RINOs aren’t free marketeers, and if anything make that message from Republicans less credible. Can the Republicans use this event to make a strategic move to win back the economic center? If they can craft a CREDIBLE platform that Republicans are for free markets and free people, recognizing that there is a multiplicity of opinion re: the social issues, they may have a chance.

Arnie could have been the standard bearer, but has blown it in California over the last 5 years.

Apr 29, 2009 - 2:21 pm 67. Marzipan:

I live in PA and can pretty much assure you that Specter will win in the general election for two reasons. Please understand that the more conservative rural areas and the more liberal urban areas pretty much offset each other, so it is in the suburbs of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh that the balance of power lies. And as noted above by so many, the conservative stance the party has taken on social issues doesn’t play out well in these areas. Add to this the loss of faith in the GOP as the standard bearers for fiscal responsibility and you begin to understand why Obama won the PA so easily. This same voting pattern is what will allow Specter to win in the next election as a Democrat because he stays out of hot button issues. And his economic view, while more liberal than many national GOP members, are still no where near Ted Kennedy’s.

This isn’t the end of the GOP – but it helps confirm the Democrat’s lock on the North East and that security allows the Dems to take the fight to states that turned blue in the last election. The party needs to change – change in ways that would allow it to acknowledge legitimate differences of opinion, rather than engage in internal ideological (or worse – theological) witch hunts. The GOP cant win with just the south and the mid-west and so long as the party practices social intolerance at the national level, they will fail to gain traction outside of these areas since they wont field a candidate in line with local values. The only good news is that now that the party has completely lost control of the financial apparatus of the state, the electorate will have time to forget the fiscal mis-management of the last 8 years.

As for those who would clutch this ideological purity to there chest in defeat, I recommend reading a good biography of a Roman who did the same. And ultimately his ideological purity came at expense of the Republic – Cato the Younger.

Apr 29, 2009 - 5:02 pm 68. myth buster:

G Alton et. al.: Social conservatism is here to stay, or else the republican party dies. Make no mistake, social conservatives consider our issues non-negotiable. Anyone who does not support our beliefs doesn’t get our votes. Period. If you can’t handle that, good riddance, because we don’t want you in our party. If you kick us out of our own party, we’ll just have to send the Republicans the way of the Whigs and build up our own party in its place. Social conservatism is about choosing life over death, freedom over slavery, and the rights of the weak over the power of the strong. Sounds libertarian to me, or should murderers be permitted to live freely as they please?

Apr 29, 2009 - 7:20 pm 69. Oscar the Grump:

At first I wasn’t sorry to see Spector go. After a bit of analysis, his leaving is really a disaster. With Franken about to be confirmed and Spector switching, the Senate now is totally in the hands of Obama. He is totally bullet proof. The Republican party is now just a hollow shell. The question is can it ever recover.

How did we get here? We can blame George Bush and an unpopular war which has some merit. We lost the last election by losing the moderate vote. McCain could have and probably should have won. However, we’ve been alienating the moderate base of the party and it cost us dearly. Increasingly the more radical right has been taking control of the party. We are now pigeon holed as the group who is anti-abortion, anti-birth control, against a woman’s right to choose, against stem cell research, revising text books to reflect religious points of view and staunchly anti-gun control. We look like a bunch of right wing nuts.

Spector lost 200,000 Republicans who changed to become Democrats.
He was facing a primary where he would have lost to a right wing Republican, his base had left the party. By switching he regained his base and added the rest of the Obama Democrats to his side. The last election was the first time Pennsylvania went Democratic in ages. The reflects strongly the unpopular positions the Republicans continue to advocate.

Here is a few facts. The average American is a moderate/conservative. If we can’t attract these people back, we will continue to lose and lose badly. If we don’t step out of the box we have put ourselves into, we will become a party of the past.

Look at the tea parties. They signs people carried attacked Obama and they also attacked the Republican party. The Republican party was an unwanted entity at these rallies. Look at the issues the people were demonstrating for, that’s where our future lies. The right wingers who can’t understand that, should not be allowed to lead the party. Dump the old garbage before we drown in it.

Apr 29, 2009 - 7:46 pm 70. sheesh:

68. myth buster: Social conservatism is here to stay, or else the republican party dies. Make no mistake, social conservatives consider our issues non-negotiable.

You’ve already done that. You’ve decided on guns, gays and government. And you’ll continue to lose as a result. You want to forbid your gay son from getting married. Go ahead. You want your daughter to have the baby of her rapist. Go ahead. You want to force me to do the same? Fat chance. Here’s what the conservatives don’t understand – liberals are all about freedom and liberty. That concept is anathema to conservatives.

Apr 30, 2009 - 6:27 am 71. Oldguy:

For starters, strip Specter of all his chairmanships. The Republicans will not do this of course because they are not a political party.

Apr 30, 2009 - 6:59 am 72. Reaganite Republican Resistance:

This cynical, self-serving move had absolutely nothing to do with values, policy, or any high-minded thinking of any kind- though President Obama surely would like for you to think that.

Everybody knows he did it because he was down 21% in the polls leading-up to the GOP primary for his seat- and Joey Pluggs made a deal with him, he already admitted as such. The sad truth is that this hack has spent three decades in the Senate, while accomplishing little.

And Barack and him have a lot in common- as unprincipled political opportunists, I’m sure they’ll get along just great. Just a little over a month ago, the Senator said in an interview that he wouldn’t switch parties due to the importance of checks and balances.

And back in 2001, Sen. Arlen Specter, then a Republican, proposed a rule forbidding party switches… he was upset when Vt Sen. Jim Jeffords’ left the GOP to become an independent.

Who knows what the truth is with this guy, you’ll never get it from him.

With all due respect, Senator- don’t let the door hit your butt on the way out. Nobody on our side’s going to miss you.

http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com

Apr 30, 2009 - 8:39 am 73. G Alston:

#68 — G Alton et. al.: Social conservatism is here to stay, or else the republican party dies.

I’ve already pointed out that the party platform is schizoid compared to the left.

And not only is it schizoid, it is also dead wrong; e.g. smaller government and/or fiscal conservatism doesn’t exist and never did.

What kicks things along is technical progress, and this is almost invariably funded by government (typically DoD.) Some of this progress filters into the civilian world. Computers were created to help solve ballistics problems; computer chips were needed to guide ICBMs, GPS was needed to position troops, the internet was a failsafe communications backbone, and so on. Every one of these things that drive the modern economy was kick-started with massive government funding.

Had the “fiscal conservative” approach been taken since WWII we’d just now be able to take our cool new AM transistor radios outside with us on battery power and the punch button princess phone would appear by 2030. I for one am quite happy that a fiscal conservative approach has never been taken.

Instead, we have the conveniences of modern life because a fiscally conservative approach was REJECTED, and rightfully so. Perhaps you should google “Strategy of Technology” for your education at this point. It was written by Reagan’s SDI advisors.

***

Essentially all of you dittohead koolaid drinker types who think you stand for something have no idea what you even stand for except that it’s not the left. It isn’t the moderates who are devoid, it’s YOU.

I applauded Bush wildly in 2004. Kerry ran on a platform of “I’m not George Bush” and got his lunch eaten. Bush ran on a platform of strong defense and won. Campaigning on “I’m not the other guy” doesn’t win. Just ask Dole. What wins elections in a technological society is *always* a strong science/technology message. Reagan won in large part because of the oil problems and vowed to rebuild the military using high tech. The star wars speech followed shortly thereafter. (Bear in mind that military and technology are fungible terms.) Obama won in large part due to energy once again; in this case he sold the concept of green as “new” and McCain was for drilling which was “old” and *not* high tech minded. McCain didn’t lose because you abortion clinic bomber supporters stayed home. He lost because the average guy in the street wants to see progress and new high paying jobs.

So what you’re advocating is a party of multiple conservative positions, none of which have proven to have ever resonated with the majority of the public nor having been implemented in a proven and working fashion. Worse, these positions are schizoid: the anti-statist position re fiscal conservatism basically shuts the technology pipeline down, and the social message is heavily statist. Not only is there no consistency, the positions don’t even make any sense.

***

Where the republican party will win — and by win I mean trounce the left forevermore — is to drop social statism and embrace the actual GOP history (as described in the first couple of paragraphs) and proudly take ownership of the fact that the GOP is responsible for technology and modern life as it is known today. By embracing this the party will also drop the idiotic dittohead position of smaller government and/or fiscal conservatism (things that the party has **never** stood for since the 1920’s.) Rather, the party promotes RESPONSIBLE government, investing into America’s future (just as Reagan did!) and PERSONAL FREEDOM. That’s how to win.

Apr 30, 2009 - 11:30 am 74. Oscar the Grump:

If the Republican want to win, we have to come up with ways to heal America. First of all, we need to close the border to illegal immigration. The illegals take scarce American jobs and cost us dearly through social programs. Second, we need to find a way to create jobs, not through government but through the private sector. Third, we need to break up the big banks and make them competitive again. The banks are in a unique position where they don’t have to be bankers for Americans any more. Fourth, we need to guarantee that America is not threatened from outside whether it is militarily, oil weapon, or terror. Five, we need to undo the left wing complex by undoing its positions in education, media, and social services.

Apr 30, 2009 - 4:34 pm

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